Pandora Music

Pandora Music

Pandora Music

Friday, August 04, 2006

Question for the class...

I received a question from a blog reader in Southern California. Seems he's having a problem with his rear wheel slipping in the rear dropouts of his older steel frame;

Tim, I have begun reading MasiGuy and picking up the spirit of being a Masi owner. I too believe having a bike with the name and tradition sets it apart which suits this 60 something "beatnik" wannabe well. Beatniks and the "individualism" they searched for is my reference here.

I bought my new Masi 3V Team green bike (1999 frame I think) online with warm recollection of a friend in the 70's who owned a Masi beauty then. He bought it as a replacement to his Colnago!

But, my question comes from a repeating problem I have. Sometimes, usually on a steep hill (steep for me anyway), my rear wheel moves to the left rubbing against the chainstay. This is the same as putting the breaks on as the rubber sidewall of the tire just won't turn when tightly forced against the chainstay. Riders in my TeamAlameda group have seen it and tried to help. Repositioning the wheel and super-tightening the quick release can help, but due to road rising somewhere along the route it can happen again anytime. I bought a new skewer (Campi) from a bike store owner who said he had experience the same thing on a Colnago years ago. He said slipping in the middle of he skewer against a smoothened inner-ring might cause this problem. But, it is recurring.

Another past Colnago owner told me the same 'tire against the chainstay' thing had happened to him years ago. Is this an Italian thing? Seriously though, is super-tightening the only thing that I should do? Should I seat the wheel even deeper into that U shaped slot where the little bolts are adjustable? Could it be the chain? Should I file or somehow rough-up the U shaped place to better hold the wheel in the position it should stay? (Some ideas-suggestions I have been given.) I would appreciate help you may be able to give me.

So, what are the suggestions here? I recommended moving the rear wheel further back in the dropouts and making sure that all of the clamping surfaces are clean and greaseless. That has worked for me in the past, so I thought it might work here.

Whenever anybody mentions this on Usenet, Jobst Brandt and Sheldon Brown both suggest replacing your dropout with vertical dropout, and then the geeky math wars start between them two as they calculate how many foot-pounds are applied to a chain versus other components on a bike.

Hmmm...also sounds like an issue that arises after hub overhauls at some point in time. The axle protrudes too far on one side or the other. This bottoms on the quick release and causes the skewer to feel tight but is actually not putting much force on the dropout. You could either redo it or file a little off of the axle ends. Hope this helps...it fixed this on my Tommassini with chromed stays as well as my Porter made in New Mexico...not just an Italian thing. :-)

The washer on the hub that sits next to the dropout could be worn and slick. I have a chrome Masi of indeterminate age ("Prestig" model, early 80s?), and after a recent change of bottom bracket to accomodate a new chainring and a tune up after a long layoff from cycling, I experienced your problem on the first ride (almost fell over)--tightening it to the max helped, but I wanted a more reliable solution. Tony Barnes, who runs a little shop in Santa Monica called Bicycle Ambulance (shameless plug, I know), and who is a former racing mechanic, fixed it with a new, serrated washer on the outside of the hub to prevent it slipping against the dropout. All good now.

i agree with Josh...although i've seen it more on paperthin stamped drop outs like giants and schwinns and fujis that are about 15 years old,with loose ball hubs weather overhauled or not that have walked the lock nut & or cone nut over

No mention of the type of hub (whee set) was made. some axle "locking surfaces" and or skewers, read ti skewer axles, just can't provide the pressure/friction required. Leonard Zinn wrote about this in his maint. book.

Log ago Hi-E made a counterbore tool to machine the inside of the drive side dropout a bit to provide mechanical engagement at the axle.